1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the arts of shopping, retail, and consumer display technologies, including location based services and technologies for increasing the convenience and efficiency of such services.
2. Description of the Related Art
Handheld devices such as personal digital assistants (PDA) and wireless-application protocol (WAP) enabled cellular phones are bringing greater on-line capabilities to consumers. Consumers may use their networked PDA's and WAP phones to access information, such as news, investment and weather web sites, as well as to receive and send electronic mail (email).
Location-based services (LBS) is a relatively new field of application wherein handheld and portable networked devices combine information regarding the location or position of a consumer (and his or her device) to deliver location-relevant information and services. For example, as a consumer enters a train station, his or her cell phone may make contact with a local server which begins to deliver information about train schedules, fares, and special rates to the device. The consumer, then, can quickly review the information, and may submit a purchase request or form to the local server to buy a ticket or reserve a seat. Additional information may also be available if the consumer selects an query icon or menu choice, such as whether or not a particular train provides food or meal service in route.
LBS incorporates the use of several types of technologies. For the handheld terminal device, a WAP-enabled cell phone or PDA equipped with a wireless networking interface may be used.
For determining the location of the consumer with a high degree of precision, technology such as the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) may be used for geographic positioning within several meters. For less precise or regional positioning, technology such as Bluetooth or the Federal Communication Commission's Enhanced Wireless 911 (E911) initiative can be employed. Bluetooth is a computing and telecommunications industry open standard which provides a short-range wireless network connection between two devices such as mobile phones, computers, PDA's, etc. The FCC's E911 initiative provides a method for pinpointing the location of a cellular phone user, primarily intended for emergency purposes, but having commercial use potential as well.
For networking the terminal device to a server or a computer network, Bluetooth, wireless local area network (LAN), or infrared (IrDA) technologies may be used.
All of these basic technologies are well known in the art, and are being combined in new ways to provide LBS services and products.
In the related patent application, a system and method were disclosed which provided a more practical location based service which employs small, inexpensive radio frequency identification (RFID) devices to locate a consumer within a retail space, and to provide automatic information regarding products on display to the consumer. The RFID of the preferred embodiment was of the type often used for antitheft systems, usually consisting of a small integrated circuit device with an antenna for receiving energy induced by an RF field created by a door gate device. When the device is powered up when it is in the RF field, it transmits a code or signal which is then received by the door gate device to determine if the product is being removed from the retail premise illegally.
In the manner of use of the related patent application, the RFID is embedded in a retail store credit card, and a modified gate device is placed near or underneath product displays within the retail space. As the consumer moves near the modified gate device, the RFID is powered up, and transmits it's code, which is correlated to the consumer's ID. Combining this information with the known location of the modified gate device, such as a shoe display, a database of the consumer's preferences is accessed to retrieve relevant information, such as the consumer's shoe size. Then, the system may access a store inventory database to determine which items on display (e.g., shoes) are available which match the consumer's preferences (e.g., the consumer's shoe size), and a special indication is given to the consumer to bring those products to his or her attention (e.g., illumination of an LED underneath a sample on display).
So, the system and method of the related application could be considered a type of LBS which does not require the use of GPS, E911, a cell phone or a PDA, in order to achieve it's primary objective. In a secondary objective, the invention of the related patent application can also automatically send detailed product information to the consumer's personal computer or pervasive device (PDA or cell phone), such as an electronic product brochure, for immediate or later review by the consumer. This is useful for allowing the consumer to collect brochures and detailed information in electronic form, rather than paper form, which allows the information to be retained more reliably, and avoids the need for the retailer to keep on hand copies of printed product documentation.
As a consumer travels from one retail establishment to another shopping for goods and services, he or she will likely see many similar products with similar characteristics at several retail locations. For example, a consumer may visit three electronics retailers during a one-day shopping trip for a home theater system. Several days later, that same consumer may visit two more retailers. In some cases, he or she may collect printed brochures regarding some of the products seen, or even electronic brochures as provided by the invention of the related application. However, it may be difficult for the consumer to recall which retail establishment had each of the products and models for which he collected information.
“Bookmarking” is a term used related to web browsing, and specifically relates to the recording of a web address for a web site or page to which a user may want to return at a later time or date. For example, a web browser user during a particular browsing session may visit 50 web sites and pages. If the user sees an interesting web page he or she may want to view again later, he or she may either print it out or simply create a new bookmark in the web browser. Then, during a subsequent browsing session, the user may simply retrieve the bookmark and automatically return to the page or site of interest.
This paradigm of viewing a multitude of web sites and pages and needing to remember only certain, specific pages for later review is similar to the scenario of trying to remember specific points of interest or retailers which were visited during shopping trips. However, a shopper must either take careful notes of where certain things were seen, trust his or her memory, or retrace his her initial sequence of visits, none of which are reliable or efficient methods of returning to the point of interest.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and method which allows a user to quickly and efficiently record points of interest for later review while shopping and visiting retail establishments, public facilities, and the like. Preferably, this system and method would be useful not only for recording points of interest for retail products and services on display for sale and services, but also for items on display which are not for sale but which may evoke continuing interest by visitors and viewers, such as items on display in a museum, convention, or trade show. Additionally, there is a need in the art for this system and method to be useful from a plurality of terminal types, such as personal computers, wireless phones, and PDA's.